Well I knew it would have to happen some day, so I will admit my Peckers too short!
And I probably should get it extended! There I said it! Now who wants to help?
I need photographers and maybe a sound guy as well as maybe some rigging help . . .

Of course I am talking about The Pecker Route on DogFace, it's too short because the original bolters stopped, and so did I, but having had a little look and a bit off a play the other day the idea of extending The Pecker rose up and hardened, at first choking and gagging in my mouth before eventually exploding like seamen from a sinking vessel - A Pecker Extension!

Am looking at filming the eventual ascent, whilst I already have plans for at least a teaser as I explore the actual possibility of the climb. Hopefully for GoatFest this year . . . So far the extension starts with several hook and pecker moves to a blank band where I placed a rurp horizontally and hooked that followed by several more hook and pecker moves.... Whew .. .. After a bunch more of the same there is eventually some reasonable looking protection ie Cams in shallow horizontals, and the odd piton possibility, that overall keeps the thing sane... so far the climbing has been far more technical and intense then anything on the original Pecker Pitch,and eventually there is even a good enough spot the set a solid belay on gear so it may not have to be done as a single pitch . . .

It should hopefully make for some interesting viewing, even more so if anything should happen to blow! Perhaps you might be interested in filming it or photographing it or helping the people setup for it?
Maybe you are able to help by donating your unused Peckers? All types and sizes welcome, in fact I probably need smaller ones rather then bigger . . .
Also small hooks, and RURPs of any description even East Euro titanium will be accepted. . .
With all these extra people along I should probably organise some first aid in case any of them hurt themselves, so any Paramedics or Rescue personal would be welcome to tag along....

Anyway I have a few numbers of people to chase up already but am keen to hear from anyone els that is interested.....

So let me get this straight. You want a team of people to help film you artificially hangdogging your way up a wall with barely a free move thrown in for luck and then show it to people who are meant to marvel at this?

On 11/03/2014 The good Dr wrote:>So let me get this straight. You want a team of people to help film you>artificially hangdogging your way up a wall with barely a free move thrown>in for luck and then show it to people who are meant to marvel at this?

Umm no, it's not a sport route so I can't do that ....
It's more like an M9/A5+ lead aid route with substantial fear and fall potential ....

How about a response to my previous questions? You never climbed anything there, let alone this line as a project! You don't even seem prepared to give Gigantor a shot??

Tell you what, how about you come try an onsight ground up attempt at Gigantor, and I'll just film it? Yeah right, I doubt you would even try though I'm sure that would have made some interesting viewing . . .
At least you are providing some additional humour to go in the film. ...

Oops yes I did, sory about Good Dr, general lack of understanding of hard aid peeves me ....

Hmm I've used the it's all A1 till you fall many times though it does not always apply in reality, I am not sure that I would call a horizontal rurp into blank rock that you then hook to be exactly A1 ....

A5 certainly exists! And this is potentially A5 in my mind, and could be made A5+ depending on how I approach this route. It could get pretty out there, if done from the belay alone there would be the possibility of stripping everything back to the belay. But to reach the next belay would have you in 40m+ ground fall territory for some time . . . .hmmm

Anyway I guess it's all academic really, and as a first ascent it will be far harder then when repeated, and it will be the harder then the first pitch, which is already pretty bloody hard . . .

Easy to see why folks do not understand it as it is an exercise in logistics and subtle use of mechanical equipment to artificially aid progress up a cliff. This is quite alien to the more movement oriented aesthetic of other types of climbing which is also why most people get into climbing in the first place. It also seems to involve lots of machismo and boasting about how hard and scary it is (e.g. your comment to the other dr and the whole Wings of Steel debacle).

Aid climbing grades are also very difficult to decipher and in the context of the modern A grading system (refer John Middendorf at bigwalls.net) there seems to be some confusion even among the leading protagonists. The A5+ grade does not appear in either the old or new school system where A5 is the top rung with only one exception being a body weight belay. Your project may well be hard A5, or if the belay is super dodgy it will be A6. And nobody wants any confirmation of it being A5 or A6!

On 3/04/2014 Macciza wrote:>Hi All>Hoping to be shooting this Saturday (last chance for GoatFest) if anyone>is keen>A few extra cameras/shots never hurts, some long shots would be good .>. .>>Give us a call if you're keen . . .>>MM

Good luck with it mate, especially given the wet weather (forecast) you will likely have; not that it will affect the climbing too much (in for a penny, in for a pound and all that), but the long shots through the mist might be iffy...

Well, something happened . . .
Got a good hand from ClimbingAnchors and my Pecker options improved . . .
My people talked to their people, and all that behinds the scene movie stuff, and I was off . . ,

Hmm the cameras not at its designated pickup place but fortunately The Axe aka The Little Dude saves the day and after a quick detour we have a camera . .
Arriving late in the mountains I don't past the hospitality stop, where I wake up the next morning to blanketing fog - rolling over it doesn't help . . .
At least I can do civilised coffee etc and contemplate possibilities - I probably should have actually taken footage of the fog instead . . .

Eventually contact was made with the aforementioned peoples and it was confirmed we had at least one of the Schimanski brothers arriving soon . . .
Either in a helicopter or with a helicopter or something - Time to get into action-mode and abandon the motorbike repairs . . .

Meeting at the top of the Dog is always fun, a good solid Blueies mist just adds to the experience - though it does not always translate well to film . . .
And apparently it could cause issues for the aforementioned helicopter - who whilst not worried about flying in the mist were worried about flying into the cliff . . .

So we shot a bit of B roll and did a quick cliff top chat/interview whilst seeing what would develop - weather wise that is . . .
Back to Katoomba for final provisioning, coffee and papers to see out the day, where we left sunshine again and returned to mist.
Determined to continue we were finally racked and ready when the clouds were finally ready to wreck it all . .
"At least we weren't on the wall" though if we had been we would have at least been committed at that stage , and had some small amount of cover . . .

So we drove around to get some long shots of the wall only to discover sunshine, a rainbow and a bucket of gold at the bottom of Doggie - "Lets go" . .
So we went back, tails bristling this time and rapped in, swung into position, dropped down to the belay, fixed a line and went to the bottom . . .
With bedpost hanger and sawn-off angle set as belay I could head back up to warm up my loins for what lay ahead . . .

Playing on the Pecker seemed so much easier second time round - maybe it was because someone else was there and filming, or the safety backup . . .
"Beaking upwards all too easily, with a large golden red wall looming large above me should have been a warning as to what was about to happen . . ."

Fortunately Schimanski was filming from fixed lines went everything started to go wrong . . .

We finally got off the wall in darkness and mist, after rope transitions and stuck bags were negotiated . . .

Even as we speak, or well at least by when you are reading this, the editing/FX etc is probably be performed in some interstate studio . . .
Hopefully the budget funding arrangements will allow something to be done in time for GoatFest . . .